1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display processing systems, and portable terminals and conversion adaptors used therefor and, more specifically, to a display processing system, and a portable terminal and a conversion adaptor used therefor enabling large-screen display of data on a television monitor instead of display on an LCD of the portable terminal. Such data includes image data for games, character and symbol data such as news and weather reports received by the portable terminal, or data registered therewith.
2. Description of the Background Art
The conventionally-known portable terminal includes a portable phone, for example. As well known, such conventional portable phone is provided with an LCD that is integrally constructed on its main body. The LCD displays various screens (e.g., menu screen, reference screen of registered addresses) thereon. A user can carry out various operations while watching the screens on the LCD.
Recently, in addition to an originally-provided telephone service, many new communication services are available for the portable phone. Such services allow, for example, transmitting/receiving of e-mails, and accessing to the Internet. The recent portable phone, as does a personal computer access to information providing servers via the Internet, directly accesses to the information providing servers and downloads therefrom various distribution data that a user requires. The distribution data includes daily information such as news, weather reports and fortune-telling, and music data, game data, and the like. If any image data is included in the downloaded distribution data, such image data is displayed on the LCD of the portable phone. If the game data is downloaded, for example, the game can be played on the LCD. As such, recent portable phones increase occasions for displaying various image contents thereon.
The portable phone is designed by giving highest priority on its portability. Therefore, the display screen of the LCD provided thereon is inevitably small. Accordingly, the LCD of the portable phone, in comparison with that of the personal computer, can display a significantly small amount of information and a small number of characters on a single screen. This is also true when graphics/symbols, game characters, and the like, are displayed. Such small sized LCD screens are disadvantageous when displaying an e-mail containing many characters and a homepage laid out with a large-screen display in mind. In such cases, the visibility of the screen is impaired, thereby imposing considerable inconvenience on the user. For example, the small screen is inconvenient when a game is played on the portable phone by using downloaded game data with game characters displayed on the small LCD. In such a case, the positional relation between characters and slight collisions occurred therebetween are difficult to recognize. Accordingly, an appropriate operation of a player may be hindered, and in some cases, he/she may lose aspirations for playing the game. Further, to display a color image included in the image contents, an LCD of the portable phone must have a color display which is relatively expensive. Still further, the conventional portable phone has been designed to be driven by a battery. It is therefore difficult to drive the CPU with high-speed. When the CPU is driven at high-speed, the amount of power consumed increases which reduces the battery life. Accordingly, the conventional portable phone also has a drawback of lacking speed for displaying moving pictures.
On the other hand, the portability of the portable phone is most utilized while the user is going out. The portability, however, is not so important when the user is staying at a specific place (e.g., home and office). Therefore, when the user is staying at the specific place, by utilizing a data processing function of the portable phone, various image contents displayed on the LCD may be alternatively displayed on a large screen such as a television receiver (or CRT display). As a result, visibility of the images of characters or game characters, and user""s convenience are improved.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a display processing system, and a portable terminal and a conversion adaptor used therefor capable of displaying an image being displayed on a small display of a portable terminal on an external display of larger screen size.
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a display processing system processing image data and displaying an image, which includes:
a portable terminal having a external communication function and equipped with a liquid crystal display;
a television monitor; and
a conversion adaptor capable of attaching the portable terminal thereto in a detachable manner, and connected to the television monitor, wherein
the portable terminal includes:
an image data storage part for storing image data obtained through communication and/or generated internally;
a program data storage part for storing program data;
a processing part for carrying out predetermined processings in accordance with the program data stored in the program data storage part; and
a liquid crystal display driving part for driving, for display, the liquid crystal display,
the conversion adaptor includes a video signal conversion part,
the processing part, as one of the processings carried out in accordance with the program data, carries out processing for processing the image data stored in the image data storage part to generate image display data for each frame and switching a destination for supplying the generated image display data,
the liquid crystal display driving part drives the liquid crystal display for display based on the image display data supplied from the processing part,
the video signal conversion part converts, when the portable terminal is attached to the conversion adaptor, the image display data supplied from the processing part into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the television monitor, and
the television monitor displays an image in accordance with the video signal supplied from the video signal conversion part.
As described above, in the first aspect of the invention, the image display data generated by the portable terminal is converted into the video signal by the conversion adaptor and then supplied to the television monitor. Therefore, the image displayed on the liquid crystal display of the portable terminal can be displayed also on the television monitor. Accordingly, under the circumstances enabling the use of the television monitor, such as when staying at home, the user can check the image originally displayed on the liquid crystal display of the portable terminal on the large screen of the television monitor, thereby achieving greater visibility of the image.
In the preferred embodiments of the invention, the conversion adaptor is provided with a recharging part for recharging the portable terminal. In this manner, the image can be displayed on the television monitor while the portable terminal is being recharged. Further, the conversion adaptor may be separable into a first housing accommodating the video signal conversion part and a second housing accommodating the recharging part, and the first and second housings may be structured such that they are detachable from each other. The image display data supplied from the processing part to the conversion adaptor is preferably temporarily stored in a first temporary storage part, read based on predetermined timing, and then outputted to the signal conversion part.
In the preferred embodiments, the image display data is supplied to the liquid crystal display driving part when the portable terminal is not attached to the conversion adaptor, and to at least the conversion adaptor when attached. In this manner, the image is automatically displayed on the television monitor when the portable terminal is attached to the conversion adaptor.
The portable terminal may be structured as a device supporting multimedia which handles audio data in addition to image data. In such case, in the portable terminal, the processing part carries out processing for reading audio data stored in an audio data storage part in relation to timing for generating the image display data and switches a destination for supplying the read audio data in correspondence with the destination for the image display data. Herein, the destination for the audio data is switched between a speaker driving part for driving a speaker of the portable terminal and the conversion adaptor. The display image data supplied from the processing part to the conversion adaptor is temporarily stored in the first temporary storage part. The audio data supplied from the processing part to the conversion adaptor is temporarily stored in a second temporary storage part. The image display data stored in the first temporary storage part and the audio data stored in the second temporary storage part are read on synchronized timing and then outputted to the video signal conversion part and an audio signal conversion part, respectively. Further, the image data storage part and the audio data storage part may be structured in a detachable manner from a body of the portable terminal.
In the preferred embodiments, a first operation part is connected to the conversion adaptor, and the processing part of the portable terminal carries out processing made in response to an operation signal from the first operation part. The first operation part may be connected to the conversion adaptor through a cable or wirelessly. When the image is displayed on the television monitor, various instructions or commands can be issued to the processing part through actuation of the first operation part. In this manner, operability is improved in comparison with the case of operation through a second operation part provided on the portable terminal which is small in size. Further, it is also possible to transmit a control signal from the processing part to the first operation part. For example, the control signal causing vibration of the first operation part may be transmitted.
In a second aspect of the present invention, the portable terminal is attached in a detachable manner to a recharging part externally attached to the television monitor. The video signal conversion part is incorporated in the television monitor. Other constituents are the same as those in the above described first aspect. An operation part for supplying an operation signal to the processing part in the portable terminal may be relationally connected to the television monitor.
A third aspect of the present invention is directed to a portable terminal detachable from a conversion adaptor connected to a television monitor and having an external communication function, including:
a liquid crystal display;
an image data storage part for storing image data obtained through communication and/or generated internally;
a program data storage part for storing program data;
a processing part for carrying out predetermined processings in accordance with the program data stored in the program data storage part; and
a liquid crystal display driving part for driving, for display, the liquid crystal display, wherein
the processing part, as one of the processings carried out in accordance with the program data, carries out processing for processing the image data stored in the image data storage part to generate image display data for each frame and switching a destination for supplying the generated image display data between the liquid crystal display driving part and the conversion adaptor,
the liquid crystal display displays an image based on the image display data when the image display data is supplied to the liquid crystal display driving part, and
the television monitor displays the image when the image display data is supplied to the conversion adaptor.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is directed to a portable terminal attachable to an external power supply and having an external communication function, comprising:
a rechargeable battery used as an internal power supply; and
a power mode switching part for switching a power consumption mode depending on which of the rechargeable battery and the external power supply supplies operation power, wherein
the power mode switching part switches the power consumption mode to a power saving mode for low power operation when the operation power is supplied from the rechargeable battery, and to a normal power mode for higher power operation than the power saving mode when the operation power is supplied from the external power supply.
As described above, in the fourth aspect, the power consumption mode is switched depending on whether the operation power is supplied from the internal power supply or from the external power supply. Thereby, the power consumption mode can be appropriately selected for the use condition of the portable terminal.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is directed to a conversion adaptor connected to a television monitor and capable of attaching a portable terminal thereto in a detachable manner, comprising
a video signal conversion part for converting image display data for each frame supplied from the portable terminal into a video signal and outputting the video signal to the television monitor.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.